Watching Over Gibbs
by smartkid37
Summary: A case hits Gibbs too close to home and he finds himself barely getting through the day, he finds signs that someone is watching out for him and keeping him going in lots of little ways that make all the difference. Who is it and how are they doing it?
1. Chapter 1

It was the second day of the worst case they'd ever had. Some monster was kidnapping and raping Military kids Even Fornell and his team at the FBI had gotten involved. Since the dirtbag had included kidnapping in his M.O.; Gibbs had gladly accepted the help, for once in his career. The bastard had targeted girls more than boys; but staying within the ages of 9 and 12. This, of course, put this case right smack dab in the middle of Leroy Jethro Gibbs' heart. The thought of someone doing this to his beautiful Kelly, kept Gibbs tied up in knots. It was a wonder he was even functioning. Somehow, he was managing to stay on target, keep his head in the case, even if it was just barely. The pain once again felt as fresh as if she'd just been ripped from his arms yesterday.

The team was remarkably keeping the distractions to a minimum. They'd gone out of their way to stop any and all teasing and instead were consistantly going above and beyond to get this case solved. Each one of them were going the extra mile in everything they did in their effort to getting this bastard off the streets before he got ahold of one more child. They were all keenly aware of Gibbs' pain, even if they didn't feel it, they certainly felt for him and did everything they could to make his days easier to get through. There was always fresh coffee sitting on his desk. His phone never rang and he never had to get after any of them for anything.

Even more remarkably,somehow, he was getting home and back safely and soundly. The fog that overtook him nightly prevented him from noticing much of anything. The only thing he knew is that somehow he was getting through his days and nights without drowning himself in sorrow, pain and booze. He would find himself waking up on the couch; but couldn't remember putting himself there; and he damn sure didn't remember getting a blanket and a pillow for the couch. And just how was it he was waking up to fresh coffee and a fresh plate of food for breakfast, staying warm in the oven, with the oven door open enough for him to notice?

Someone was looking out for him, but by the time he'd managed to think beyond the fog and realized this, they were three weeks into this horrible case and Gibbs was still barely holding on. He'd of fallen down on his face before now, if it hadn't been for whoever was watching over him.


	2. Chapter 2

Mid-way through the third week of this horrible case he was beyond exhausted. Thank God, Fornell and his team had caught the bastard they'd been chasing. Now they could wrap things up and try to recoup and regroup, get prepared to come back for the next bad-ass they needed to collar. Finding the strength to keep going was harder now than it had ever been before. This time, he'd taken on the task of keeping a sharp eye on Gibbs after work every night. The self-appointed task had come as an easy decision. Watching the man struggle to keep his emotions in check as the details of the victims came to light, he'd decided right then and there not to let Gibbs get lost in the pain that would undoubtedly be resurfacing for him as a result of this brutal case.

He knew that Gibbs' would invariably wind up drinking himself into a stupor in his basement with only his boat and his bourbon to keep him company. Well, this time, he wasn't gonna let that happen. So, he'd taken on the responsibility of keeping Gibbs plied with coffee throughout the day. It made dosing him with a sleeping aid in his last coffee of the work day easy as pie. Giving the coffee time to take affect, he would slip out and move Gibbs' car to the front entrance and make sure the security guards were watching over it until he came back with Gibbs. As he'd hitch Gibbs up under one of his shoulders and help him down to the car, he'd already turned off the boss' work station and stowed his gun and badge in his own bag.

The guards not only knew what he was doing, they were happy to help ease Agent's Gibbs' burden and would never say a word about it. As he would drive Gibbs home, his boss would actually fall asleep on the way. Getting him out of the car was always a challenge, but somehow, he always managed to get him into the house and comfortably laying down on his couch. After he'd fallen deeper alseep, he'd take the man's shoes off for him and cover him with a blanket.

Heading up to the guest room, he'd make sure the alarm was set early enough for him to get up and fix Gibbs' breakfast and coffee and give him time to spotlessly clean up after his work. In the mornings, he would double check behind himself, make sure Gibbs' alarm was set, set his plate of breakfast in the oven with the temperature on warm, pour his cup of fresh coffee and head out in a taxi just before Gibbs was due to wake up.

Getting to work extra early was actually fun and relaxing. Heading down to the showers, he'd relax under the hot water and take his time to undwind. After he'd finished showering and changed into clean clothes from his locker, he'd get his first coffee of the day and head out to his car, stowing his laundry in the trunk before he went back to his desk.

Now, here it was the last night of the case and the last time he'd be able to watch over Gibbs. Getting him to take that last dosed coffee would be tricky tonight. But, he was willing to give it a go. He knew that the risk of Gibbs falling back into his escape into booze was still prevelant and he didn't want to see that happen. The man had made it through damn near three weeks without it. Hell, at this point, he didn't even care if he got found out.

Sure, he was risking Gibbs' rath, but he'd do it again in a heartbeat so it didn't matter how pissed the man got at him. He wouldn't change what he'd done. He was proud of himself for keeping Gibbs safe from his own destructive habits at a time when he'd needed to stay on top of his game the most.

As the squad room emptied out for the night and Gibbs was still absent from his desk, he replaced the boss' coffee with his usual last one of the night replacement. Slipping out of the squad room, he waited until the coffee did its' job. As smoothly as he'd been pulling it off for the last three weeks, he managed to get the man out to his car and headed to his home.

Once he had him safely home and on his couch, he, as usual, escaped into the kitchen for a few moments while Gibbs resettled deeper into sleep. As he headed back out to the couch to cover Gibbs with a blanket and take his shoes off, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness. This would be the last night what he did for this man would matter. Oh, well, he knew he was only useful like this while Gibbs was under the pain and pressure of the case so badly he wasn't focused without help. He'd known it was temporary.

This night, he wouldn't be staying. He'd set up Gibbs' coffee maker for the moring but he' leave breakfast unresolved. Waking up with a clear head and no more case hanging over him would mean he could function again.

As the taxi he'd called pulled up; he got in and as they pulled away from the curb, he couldn't help but smile.

Mission accomplished.


	3. Chapter 3

Leroy Jethro Gibbs had never been more shocked in his entire life. He was currently sitting in MTAC reviewing security tapes from the last three weeks. What he was seeing left him completely and utterly shell-shocked. Here it was only 8 AM on the morning after they'd put that horrible case to rest and he was so restless with the need to know how he'd been getting home at night and who had been making sure he was eating breakfast in the morning, that he'd come in to work to painstakingly go through these tapes.

As he watched, beginning, apparently, from the first night of the case, his coffee was switched and the culprit momentarily left the squad room, only to return again a few well-timed minutes later, when he, Gibbs, had fallen asleep at his desk. As he continued to watch in silent fascination, now compelled to see exactly how this guy managed to pull this off, the culprit turned off Gibbs' computer, turned off his lamp, put his weapon and badge in his own pack, and hoisted Gibbs up against one shoulder. In utter amazement, Gibbs watched himself being assisted to the elevators.

When the camera footage switched to the one in the front entrance, Gibbs watched himself being loaded into his own car by the two night shift security guards who knew him well. In what looked to be a conspiracy, they even waved at the culprit as he drove off with Gibbs securely fastened in his own front seat, fast asleep before the car even moved.

Determined to view it all, Gibbs fast forwarded through all of the footage that spanned the last three weeks. Sure enough, the events of that first night were repeated nightly. There was never anyone else around when this was taking place, the sign of particularly good planning. The culprit had also gotten in much better shape recently, as made obvious by both the physical shape he was in and his ability to assist Gibbs to the elevator, and out to the car, and obviously to his own living room couch.

Which brought up the rest of what Gibbs needed to figure out. Why? Why had he done this for him? And why wasn't he concerned about repercussions? Drugging your boss with a sleeping pill every night for three weeks was bound to have consequences. Was it something this guy was truely not worried about? That didn't seem likely, but then again, the proof of what was important to the guy was right there in colored video proof. What was important to this guy had been his nightly mission, to see Gibbs home safely and safely sleeping on his own couch.

Dazed and bewildered by the length at which this guy had gone to to make sure Gibbs was watched out for during a time when he would have undoubtedly resorted to his normal self destuctive behavior; drinking himself into oblivion every night and waking up with a hangover from hell; Gibbs was actually at a loss as to what to say or do next.

Digging out his cell phone, he made the call that would most likely help him figure this out.

"Jethro? What on earth are you doing out and about so early?" Ducky asked in surprise.

"Duck, you busy?" Gibbs got right to the point.

"No, Jethro, as a matter of fact I'm not. What can I do for you?"

Need you to come in and look at something for me. I'm in MTAC."

"Certainly, Jethro, I'll be there soon."

"Thanks, Duck."

As he waited for Ducky's arrival, Gibbs went out for fresh coffee. Coming back in, Ducky arrived in time to walk in with him. Gibbs was suspisciously quiet, apparently at a loss for words. Ducky didn't disturb his thinking, he knew he'd find out what this was about soon enough.

When Gibbs got them into MTAC, he pointed to the screen at the front of the room. "Need you to watch this, Ducky. Tell me what you think." he requested.

As the M.E. silently watched the video feed that Gibbs had just sat through, Gibbs watched his reactions. Soon, it became apparent that Ducky had no knowledge of this going on. That was a relief in a way. Gibbs would have had a serious problem with that kind of conspiracy going on under his nose, especially when it involved things being done to him while he was unaware.

As the footage came to an end, Ducky was rooted to the floor with his own sense of speechlessness.

"Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"Jethro, although it is quite surprising to see him actually acting out his need to look out for you, It should not come as that big of a surprise to you that he has that kind of concern for you. From the look on your face, you are completely shocked. That just confirms what I've always told you. You underestimate him and don't take him seriously enough.

"Ducky!"

"Jethro, can you deny that you are shocked? Can you deny that you never expected this from him? Why wouldn't you expect it from him? Are you still harboring under the allusion that only some of your team members think highly enough of you to do that for you?" Ducky was getting upset on this man's behalf.

"Yeah. Okay. Duck. I get it." Gibbs grudgingly admitted.

"Now, the question remains, what are you going to do about it?" Ducky asked in all seriousness.

"About which part, Duck? The part where he drugged his boss every night for three weeks or the part where he obviously put whatever consequences that would bring aside and did what he felt needed to be done anyway?" Gibbs asked dryly.

"Both." Ducky answered.

"I dunno, Duck."

"Jethro, you can't possibly be considering dire consequences for him?" Ducky was outraged at the idea.

"Duck, you don't even know the half of what he did." As Gibbs proceeded to fill Ducky in on everything this guy had done for Gibbs, without Gibbs knowing about it until after he'd stopped doing any of it, Ducky's face continued to beam with pride at the story he was being told.

"With that being said, Ducky, no, there will be no negative consequences for him. It wouldn't be right. But, at the same time, I dont' want him handling anything like this in this way again."

"I agree, Jethro. But what are you going to do?" the M.E. asked.

"Talk to him." Gibbs responded seriously.

"Oh, dear!"


	4. Chapter 4

He felt good. He'd done the best he could do at something no one would ever give him credit for, but that was okay with him. The credit didn't matter. Sure, it stung that no one thought he was capable of things like doing this well on a case, but hell, he was used to it by now. The sharpness had eased off the sting.

Now that the case was over, he could catch up on some much needed sleep. He'd tried to fall asleep last night after he'd gotten home, but all he'd managed to do was toss and turn. Now he felt like death warmed over and his eyeballs felt like lead weights.

As he wearily trudged over to the stereo, he put some hopefully relaxing music on, needing the extra help in getting to sleep. After what seemed like hours, his eyes fluttered closed and sleep claimed him. Two minutes later, he was awakened by the beating of a fist on his door.

Cursing under his breath, he staggered to his feet and shuffled his way to his door. Taking the necessary precaution of checking through the peephole to see who it was, he was shocked to his toes to see the face on the other side of his door.

Quickly, he opened his door before his guest could impose his fist on it again.

"Tony?"

"Probie! Man you look like crap, what the hell you been doin with yourself?" Tony asked a little too loudly for Tim's suddenly raging headache.

"Tony, what do you need? I need to get back to sleep. I'm exhausted."

"Probie, you got something going on you need to tell me about?" Tony nosily asked.

"No, Tony. I don't please, tell me what you came here for and then let me get back to sleep. I'll even let you stay while I sleep if you want, I don't care." Tim admitted.

"I just came over to see what you've been up too, McNever home anymore."

"Tony, I've been busy. Now, if that's all you needed; all you came all the way up here for, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I really need some sleep. Besides, you're never home either, so what does it matter?"

"But, we're not talking bout me. We're talking bout you." Tony persisted.

"Um, No. Actually, Tony, you are talking about me. I am talking about going back to sleep." Tim reminded him. "What are you doing up so early anyway?"

"Got my catnap in. It's all I'm used to getting these days. I'm good to go, for about another hour, anyway." Tony admitted.

"Tony, you can crash on my couch if you want. You can watch TV. quietly, if you want. You can eat my apartment out of house and home if you want. Just, PLEASE let me go back to sleep!" Tim bargained.

"Really? You serious, Probie?" Tony asked in excitement. "Yeah, guess the last three weeks have been especially exhausting haven't they? I didn't think we'd ever catch a break on that case."

"I don't want to talk about it, Tony" Tim said with steel in his voice and his eyes closing to hide what he felt.

"Huh? Oh! Jeez. I'm sorry, McCranky! Let's watch a movie. And I need a snack; can you get me a snack?"

Really, Tony. Help yourself." Tim gave in with exhaustion as he trudged back to his room and flopped back onto his bed, asleep again in less than a minute.

Tony turned on the droning background noise of an uninteresting show and quickly got comfortable on Tim's couch. It had been hard to keep his own exhaustion from showing. These last three weeks had really taken a lot out of him and it was with much relief that he felt sleep come and find him.

What seemed a short few minutes later, another fist was beating its' way through Tim's door. This time, Tony got up and answered it just as Tim got to the living room. Looking through the peep hole, Tony drew back in surprise. "It's Gibbs! What the hell did you do, Probie?"

"Tony, just let him in. Don't stand there pissin him off more than he already sounds." Tim retorted as he turned back into the kitchen and quickly set about making a pot of coffee. Whatever this was about had to be important enough that Gibbs had come all this way. The least Tim could do was give the man a cup of coffee for his trouble.

As Tony opened the door to his boss, Gibbs didn't bat an eye at seeing him standing there. Instead, he stepped inside the apartment, glanced over at Tim finishing the task of getting coffee started and stated his business.

"We need to talk."


	5. Chapter 5

_"We need to talk."_

* * *

"Boss?"

"Boss?"

The matching questions spoken in tandem almost brought a grin to Gibbs' face.

Looking at the agent he didn't need to talk to, he made an unexpected request. Silently, he gave him his 'get lost' gesture.

"Sure. Yeah. Okay. I'll just go for a drive. You can have the place to yourselves." the agent got the message and didn't put up a fight.

Gibbs nodded his thanks at the guy.

As he was leaving he turned to Gibbs and told him: "Boss, there's fresh coffee in the kitchen for you."

"Thanks." Gibbs answered in an accepting tone that almost immediately got him a cup of coffee placed on the table in front of him.

After the people shifting was over and Gibbs had settled into a chair with his coffee, he turned to agent he needed to talk to and said what he came to say.

"Why?"

"Boss?" his agent questioned.

"Why did you do it?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"I'm not following you." The agent refused to jump to conclusions about Gibbs' agenda.

Gibbs silently tossed a stack of what looked like, photo stills he'd printed off the security video from work and tossed them onto the table in front of them.

The agent's silence spoke volumes of his determination to stand behind what he'd done. The rare spark of rebellion in his eyes left no doubt he felt no remorse.

"I need to know why you did it." Gibbs explained.

"Because someone needed to." The agent answered back honestly, locking eyes with him.

"That's it?" the boss was skeptical.

"Yeah." His agent was calm. "Well, no. I did it because I wanted to, more than because you needed it."

"You weren't concerned about being seen on the security video? The consequences if you'd been reported?"

"Reported? Reported for what? Oh, right, spiking your coffee. No, Boss, I wasn't concerned about that. I was only concerned about you."

"You caught me by complete surprise." Gibbs admitted with a small smile of appreciation.

"I know, Boss." His agent admitted quietly with a wealth of sadness in his tone.

"How would you know that?" his boss asked in confusion.

"Because no one expects that much from me." The young man plainly stated it like it was truth.

"That's not true."

"You just admitted you were surprised. Let's face it, no one thinks that I'm capable of anything like this."

"Seems to me everyone is always quick to talk about you being there for , willing to do anything for anyone. That sound like they don't expect it from you?"

"And yet, if you were to tell people about this, what would their reaction be, Boss? My next paycheck says they'd be even more shocked than you were and that's pretty tough to beat."

"I'm not good with words." Gibbs reminded him as he got up off his chair and extended his hand out to his agent. "But, I need you to know that I appreciate what you did and the discretion in which you did it."

"I know you do, Boss.." his agent let him off the hook as he took the hand that was offered and stood up, staying eye to eye with his boss. "And I appreciate hearing you say it."

"Don't ever do this again." Gibbs directed. "You find yourself thinking of doing something like that again; you find other ways or get somone in the proper channels to help you. Don't you risk your career like this again." As he spoke the advice he fully expected his agent to follow to the letter; he reached out and pulled him into a quick embrace. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." the agent gave back in return before quickly pulling back and taking Gibbs' coffee cup back to the kitchen and getting him a refill.

"I mean it, don't take that kind of chance again." Gibbs stressed, grateful for his agent's willingness to keep things on an even keel.

"Yes, Boss." his flustered agent said. He hadn't even thought of the seriousness of the steps he was taking to take care of Gibbs being more important than the seriousness of keeping watch over Gibbs.

"I mean it. Being the one no one would ever think to find doing this wouldn't save your ass if someone had reported you."

"You're right. But, I don't regret doing it, any of it."

"I know." Gibbs gave out.

"How'd you figure it out, Boss?" his agent asked out of curiosity.

"Lots of little things that I knew weren't magically happening. Watching the security video clinched it. But you sealed your own fate."

"How?" the agent asked.

"Simple, I found this in the front seat of my car." Gibbs said as he handed over a business card.

"Oops." his agent allowed with guilt.

As Gibbs stifled the urge to reach out and affectionately ruffle his agent's hair, he responded with a laugh.

"Next time? Don't leave your publisher's card in my front seat., Tim."

* * *

_A/N: This Story was created in tribute to all of you readers and reviwers out there who, like me, are sick of Tim never being credited with the strength of character he possesses._

_Most people immediately say "Oh, That's something Tony would do."_

_This story says, "This is something Tim would do!"_


End file.
